Embrace the Desire by Spring Stevens

to him, it wasn’t that kiss. It was because she had not been overcome with his emotions or thoughts. As a matter of fact, she couldn’t read him at all. She had wished most of her life that she would find just one person on earth that she couldn’t, but she was wary of Payne.
    She remembered what was behind his eyes, remembered how black they had turned. And that warped evil sounding voice that she had committed to memory left her skin crawling. Only, her skin hadn’t crawled last night. And like the near first kiss they had shared, the one last night left her as emotionally wrecked as a derailed train.
    Payne was terrifying. He was a six-foot five-inch stack of muscles and dark desires. She couldn’t help but be afraid of him, but every female instinct in her body demanded she want him. It wasn’t a good combo, being afraid of what you wanted. Every time he got close to her, her body would shake, and she didn’t know if it was the fear or the desire causing it. Or both.
    He hadn’t changed . . . much. Muscles were still as large and glorious as they had been eight years ago. He was still scary as hell with that apparently permanent sneer plastered on his well-formed lips. She sighed as she replayed the scene at the diner. Never in her life had she met a man equal to Payne, he was male, all the way to the bone.
    Even Damon, in his magnificently handsome form, was not as blatantly sexually attractive as Payne. She suddenly wanted to scream. For the life of her, Chanta wanted to hate Damon, wanted to hear him beg for her forgiveness, but she knew in her heart that what he had done was simply his way of crossing Gyth. She had been nothing more than bait.
    And now, she meant nothing more to Payne than an order from Gyth.
    Chanta leaned against the wall of the diner and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and listened as the muffled sounds of a dozen people filled her mind. Concentrating on the male voice that boomed in the distance, she tried to push Payne out of her thoughts. It was Dave, the man she had hired to manage her diner. He was looking at the picture of his wife, Heather. Oh, how beautiful she is!
    He loved his wife more than anything in the world and would die a thousand deaths for her. Chanta loved listening to his thoughts. He had a good heart although at times his thoughts did run astray. She grinned as he envisioned himself leaning across Heather in their bed the night before. She giggled and released his thoughts, those thoughts were much too private and she was sure her cheeks were getting rosy.
    As she opened her eyes, she caught her breath. Barely inches in front of her Payne stood staring at her. His eyes were mute and she was sure he was not judging her, but still he was staring.
    She forced a soft smile on her lips as her body instantly warmed and stepped beside him. He towered over her small frame and she had a sudden attack of unease. She still couldn’t get any reading from him.
    And if that wasn’t bad enough, his black hair was down, not pulled back at the nape of his neck. His face was hard, the straight planes pulling tight against the muscles in his jaws. In that moment, she realized just how gorgeous he really was. A dark lethal beauty that only added to her body’s hunger.
    “You’re late.”
    “Not really, you specifically said somewhere around ten.” He paused and looked up at the nearly full moon. “And it’s only ten after.”
    Chanta strained to see his expression. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”
    “Doesn’t matter whether it was or not, we are both here already.” His voice was deep and gritty.
    “The Burning hasn’t begun. Perhaps we should reschedule.” And on that note, never seemed like a good plan.
    “I won’t be in this town for very long and time is of the essence.” He looked down at the top of her head. “Your blood is heating. I can smell it.”
    “What? I don’t stink.” Her face paled.
    “No. It smells like honeysuckle and fresh rain. And